Officer Who Fatally Shot Ramarley Graham Regrets Not Reaching Out To The Teen’s Family

Former NYPD cop Richard Haste says Graham's mother has "every right to be angry" with him.

The former NYPD officer who fatally shot a 16-year-old unarmed Bronx teen in the winter of 2012 wanted to offer the victim’s family an explanation, much to the family’s refusal.

Richard Haste told the New York Daily News that he wanted to speak with Ramarley Graham’s family to offer specific reasons that led him to chase Graham into his Wakefield home, where he shot and killed him in front of his grandmother and younger brother.

“I’ve been wanting to talk to the family since day one. I’ve been restricted by DCPI. You want to speak, but you can’t,” former NYPD officer Richard Haste said to the New York Daily News outside of his New York home.

He maintains that he was instructed not to speak with Graham’s family by the NYPD’s press office and his superior officers. Haste continued, saying that Graham’s mother, Constance Malcolm, has “every right to be angry.”

Haste stepped down from the police forced on Friday after a trial conducted by the NYPD found him guilty on all accounts regarding the 2012 incident.

But Malcolm says that Haste’s explanation is too little, too late.

“Richard Haste sat through a trial and lied up there. Now you want to meet with me? That was your opportunity, on that stand. So, no, I won’t meet with him,” she said. “Nothing he could say to me is going to take away that pain.”

The grieving mother is outraged that Haste was allowed to resign instead of being fired, and continues to advocate for the dismissal Sgt. Scott Morris and Officer John McLoughlin, two officers directly involved with the shooting who currently remain on the police force.

She also requests the NYPD fire the nine officers who responded to the scene of the shooting, according to the outlet.

In 2015 Malcolm settled with New York City in the amount of $3.9 million after a federal judge threw out the charges against Haste due to a technicality, followed by a grand jury’s refusal to indict.

On Monday New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said that the city would pursue efforts to bring disciplinary action against Morris and McLoughlin.